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UQ - Are they REALLY needed??

So, living in the UK we get a fair splattering of decent weather changes. In winter we get about 0 to -10 degrees at worse.
Do I really need an UQ, or would a foam mat under my quilt or sleeping bag do. I realise that the lower I hang, maybe the less wind will run underneath. I've seen Sean 'silverfox' Youtube videos say how leaf litter etc. could act as a 'mattress'. So by wrapping up warm for beddie byes, with a wool blanket or sleeping bag etc over, wouldn't that be enough??

I'm normally a sleeper who likes to feel 'relatively' warm at night, so I guess what I'm asking is. . . Does it really get THAT cold in a hammock??

Foam pads are commonly used as insulation, they're just trickier to get in the right position. I've only ever used a pad and been as low as a bit under 30*F without any problems. Take a look at pad extenders that add foam wings to the edges of the pad to widen it. Because a hammock wraps around you, a wider pad is helpful.
The reason pads or UQs are important is because your sleeping bag does not provide much (if any) insulation when you lay on top of it because it is compressed. Leaf litter underneath would probably provide very little insulation. There is something called a Garlington insulator which uses leaves or other similar materials to insulate, but I don't know much about those.

For me....this question is like asking "are gloves really needed"?? The answer in cold weather can be "No" depending on what you're doing. You can hop around with your hands in your pockets or pulled up into your sleeves but at the end of the day you're going to want some gloves. Same goes for an UQ. A pad will work but you'll spend a lot of time fiddling around with it, flinching when a body part hits cold nylon, etc. Pads work great for some people and maybe you're one of those. I do both...quilt under my backside with a space blanket and UQP to supplement depending on the weather. I put a thin pad under my legs or sometimes roll it up and place it inside the footbox of my quilt. Do whatever works for you...